Second grader punished for talking about his gay mom

[Pikachu_PM]

Not trying to throw oil on a burned out fire here...but I do want to point out that there is absolutley nothing wrong with stereotyping and making general statments. People stereotype everyday...it's how we think, how we organize our thoughts, how we process information. The problem with stereotyping only occurs when:

(a) the assumption of the stereo type is wrong (ie..black people can't fly planes because they have worse eyes than white people) or

(b) The person stereotyping can't or won't recognize that there are exceptions to the stereo type (i.e...women are submissive, therefore my new girlfriend that just came out of the bathroom wearing black leather and holding a whip would like me to take charge now).

Women are smarter than men.
Conservatives are anti-gay rights
Christians are intolerant
Liberals are for redistribution of wealth

All of those as generalities hold true...and to state such things about a large body of ppl is not 'wrong' SO LONG AS it is understood that these ARE generalities and one is able to stay open-minded and recognize evidence that makes certain individuals contrary to the 'whole'

My favorite is the women being smarter than men....in general that is true. Most women are smarter than most men...HOWEVER, the smartest people on the planet are almost all men (as are the dumbest).

[ 12-06-2003, 03:05 PM: Message edited by: Pikachu_PM ]

[Chewbacca]

Given any stereotype has exceptions, that people make alot of incorrect stereotypes, and that people hide prejudice and bigotry behind innocent seeming stereotypes, I'm quite comfortable discrediting them.

With regards to this thread, it could be assumed that some sort of religious and/or political ideaology that considers homosexuality 'bad' is what motivated the teacher to react with punishment rather than dialouge. We have no facts to prove that assumption though and that makes it a disservice to folks who are the exception to the stereotype to make such a claim. The teacher could have acted under the assumption that such "adult' topics like homosexuality should be discussed at home not at school and religion and/or political ideaology had nothing to do with the motivation for censorship and punishment.

Here is another PDF link where the teacher explains her reasons for punitive action:

“Marcus decided to explain to another child in his group that his mom is gay. He told the other child that gay is when a girl likes a girl. This kind of discussion is not acceptable in my room. I feel that parents should explain things of this nature to their own children in their own way.”

Now, I have a hunch the teacher is indeed motivated by something other than children hearing a highly innocent and child-like explaination of what gay means. I could assume the teacher feels that parents should have an opportunity to tell their kids that being gay is an abonimation, a sickness, and a sin rather than have a child explain it as "when a girl likes another girl".

But a hunch and an assumtion do not make for fact and I have no hard evidence to back up my hunch or this assumption. So given the fact that I could be wrong, I will refrain from making sweeping steroetypes about certain religious and political ideologies and focus on the the facts at hand.

[Gab]

Originally posted by Pikachu_PM: Not trying to throw oil on a burned out fire here...but I do want to point out that there is absolutley nothing wrong with stereotyping and making general statments. People stereotype everyday...it's how we think, how we organize our thoughts, how we process information. The problem with stereotyping only occurs when: (a) the assumption of the stereo type is wrong (ie..black people can't fly planes because they have worse eyes than white people) or (b) The person stereotyping can't or won't recognize that there are exceptions to the stereo type (i.e...women are submissive, therefore my new girlfriend that just came out of the bathroom wearing black leather and holding a whip would like me to take charge now). Women are smarter than men. Conservatives are anti-gay rights Christians are intolerant Liberals are for redistribution of wealth All of those as generalities hold true...and to state such things about a large body of ppl is not 'wrong' SO LONG AS it is understood that these ARE generalities and one is able to stay open-minded and recognize evidence that makes certain individuals contrary to the 'whole' My favorite is the women being smarter than men....in general that is true. Most women are smarter than most men...HOWEVER, the smartest people on the planet are almost all men (as are the dumbest).

Well I agree that many of the statements are true. However I really believe that most Conservatives are anti-gay because they've voted against same sex marriage. Another thing, many Liberals want some redistrbution of wealth because not enough has been done to help the poor.

[Azred]

Originally posted by Spelca: quote: Originally posted by Azred: the school also needs to be help accountable as to why one of their students cannot spell correctly

He's 7 years old. I don't think any of us knew how to spell correctly when we were 7. [img]tongue.gif[/img] [/QUOTE]I could. Of course, I was also reading first-grade books and browsing my grandmother's encyclopedias at the age of 4, but that is a story for another day. [img]graemlins/petard.gif[/img]

All generalizations are bad, including this one. [img]tongue.gif[/img]